Two different and even opposing events marked the last days of 2020 from the European perspective: On the one side, the highly disputed Brexit-deal was signed off. On the other side, an even higher, in fact seven years long disputed negotiation came to conclusion: the European Union – China Comprehensive Investment Agreement (CAI). Announced on the 30th of December, the ...
Samir Amin, the brilliant Egyptian political thinker which we sadly lost in August 2018, made an important argument while describing the view of the legendary politician of the Arab world, Gamal Abdel Nasser, during one of our talks in Cairo, which I will here reiterate. He argued that it was at the Asian-African Bandung conference in the 1950s when the ...
German detention of a Turkish ship: a violation of international law and modern piracy On the morning of November 22, the German frigate Hamburg, in the course of EU-led Operation Irini, began an unannounced inspection of the Turkish Roseline-A ship that was carrying aid to Libya, 100 miles off the coast of Benghazi. They expressed suspicion of the Turkish ship’s ...
The Second World War was finally coming to an end. The US President Truman has told the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin through a Russian translator, that they have developed and successfully tested “a new weapon of unusual destructive force”, during the conference at the Cecilienhof Palace in Potsdam, Germany, on July 24th 1945. Exactly 13 days after that conference was ...
A new wave of escalation has flared up in Libya due to the latest airstrikes on the Al-Watiya airbase. The attack was leveled against a military facility located 140 km south of Tripoli, and damaged Turkish air defence systems housed there. Ankara officials warn that the incident is likely to escalate the ongoing conflict in the wartorn North African country. ...
France and Turkey clashed this week after the French president’s latest rejoinder of NATO’s ” brain death“. The French leader also harshly criticized Turkey’s actions in Libya, calling it “a dangerous game”. Earlier in June, a Turkish frigate off the coast of Libya refused to carry out an order to inspect the cargo from the French frigate participating in the ...
The Director of the Italian Communist Party explains why coronavirus has the West shaken to the core
As the number of people diagnosed with Covid-19 throughout the world surges past 267,000, Italy continues to be hit harder than almost any other country. Despite a nationwide quarantine, Italy faced its highest death toll yet only yesterday, the total number reaching 4 825. Italy’s coronavirus deaths now even surpass those of China where the virus first broke out. We ...
To illustrate everyday problems with immigration in the EU let’s look at three short news stories, all from the end of 2018: On the 19th of December, a Ukrainian immigrant on Warsaw street attacks a Pole with a knife. At the same time, the media sounds alarm bells telling Polish employers that their Ukrainian employees will soon set off for ...
UN members adopted the Global pact for safe, orderly and regular migration in Morocco, after 6 months of discussions between more than 150 countries. While the new document cannot force states to follow the rules it lays out, it does have a strong advisory and “team-building” nature. At the same time, on the European level, pressure is being put on ...
The protests taking place in cities all over France continued into a third day on Monday with blockades being set up at petrol refineries and strategic points on roads and motorways across the country. The so-called “yellow jackets” are protesting an increase in fuel prices and, more generally, against all of Emmanuel Macron’s recent liberal reforms. Around 409 people have ...